But the dry spell has become conspicuous and especially in 2013, when the conference is thought to be crammed with One Shining Moment candidates. Four Big Ten teams are in the top 11 of this week's USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Michigan is No. 1 in the Associated Press rankings. Seven different conference schools have been in the top 20.

"I would venture to say from top to bottom, it is as good as I have ever seen it,'' Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. :There are great players, great coaches, and I'll tell you another thing. There are great fans. Playing on the road in this league is maybe the most daunting challenge that you can go through.''

Added Izzo, "What's going to be dicey is with us beating up on each other, who drops off the face of the earth?''

Maybe Illinois. From 13-1 in non-conference to 2-5 in its first seven conference games. Or Minnesota. One minute 15-1, the next minute 15-5.

OK, so let's all agree the Big Ten is brutal, as usual. But that only begs more questions:

If January and February are so good, how come nobody is ever cutting down nets in April?

And is anything different about this season?

In the same 23 years, the Atlantic Coast Conference produced eight champions. Five of them beat Big Ten teams in the title game. Ouch.

"I think it's a number that's just sort of happened,'' Matta said.

"The flip side of that,'' Indiana's Tom Crean said, ``is how many schools have been to the Final Four?''

Since he asked, seven different conference schools have made it during those 23 years, for a total of 16 appearances. So the Big Ten has been undeniably deep, and good.

Just not quite good enough.

"I think there was a time that our league was maybe lacking in the elite talent,'' Izzo said. "In 2009, when we played North Carolina, we were damn good. But it was boys against men (the Tar Heels rolled 89-72). I don't see as much of that happening now.''

Matta mentioned the 37-1 Illinois team in 2005 that was unlucky enough to run into a loaded North Carolina bunch. "And the year we made it to the national championship game (in 2007),'' he said, ``Florida was the defending champion and had everybody back.

"Winning the national championship is one of the hardest things to do. Two years ago in the last week of the season, three of the teams that went to the Final Four weren't even sure of getting into the NCAA tournament; UConn, Butler and VCU. It's like, who's going to win the national championship this year, on January 25th? Nobody knows. Last year, you would have said Kentucky.''

So maybe it's been bad timing, and perhaps too many NBA draft picks on the other team. "When we won it,'' Izzo noted, "we had four pros.''

This year's Big Ten can match any league in All-America candidates. Indiana not only has Cody Zeller, but Victor Oladipo. Michigan has Trey Burke, Ohio State Deshaun Thomas. The next High Noon moment is Michigan at Indiana on Saturday night.

"At the end, as they say in the NBA, talent is what usually wins out,'' Izzo said. "Maybe that's been it. I don't see that this year.''

So never mind the rankings. This league, any league, needs a national champion every so often to maintain elite status.

"I think you do,'' Izzo said. "The ACC has been built on Duke and North Carolina for years.''

Crean had another thought: "Every year lately, everybody is looking at this as the best league in the country. That's a body of work thing. On a weekend in Atlanta, would it be great if it's us or somebody else in the Big Ten? No question. That's what you play for. But you've got to look at this thing over a period of time, and from top to bottom, this league has been outstanding. And I don't think there's any downfall coming.''

One promising sign. Nobody out there from any league looks unbeatable this season.

"It is what it is,'' Matta said of the Big Ten ring-less streak. "But with that said, I would love to see us get one.''

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The NCAA has named 25 finalists for the greatest March Madness team of all time. Fans can vote for the award starting in early January. Here's a look at some of the notable finalists (in no order).
Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports